An estimated 623,000 Americans with children younger than age 18 are addicted to opioids, according to a new study.

Less than a third of those parents are receiving treatment for their substance abuse, according to the paper published this week in the Annals of Family Medicine journal.

The numbers amount to nearly 1 percent of U.S. parents of minors living with opioid use disorder.

The issue can lead to 'disastrous circumstances for children,' lead author and health economist Lisa Clemans-Cope told DailyMail.com.

This chart illustrates opiate prescribing trends in the U.S. from 2000-2017, illustrating a sharp increase in the amount of Oxycodone and hydrocodone doled out in the early 2000s, followed by a decline since 2012

Clemans-Cope and other researchers from the Washington D.C.-based Urban Institute used data from the 2015-2017 National Survey of Drug Use and Health – a national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – to reach their findings.

The parents struggling with opioid addiction tended to be lower income, white and were more likely to be on Medicaid.

Researchers also found an additional 4.2 million parents of minors have other substance use issues, including alcoholism.

Mental illness, including suicidal ideation is often coupled with the addictions – with 20 percent of opioid-addicted parents reporting that they have had suicidal thoughts or actions in the past year, researchers wrote.

Parental substance use and mental health disorders are both major risk factors for children's development and their health. -Lisa Clemans-Cope, The Urban Institute

'Parental substance use and mental health disorders are both major risk factors for children's development and their health,' Clemans-Cope said. 'They experience family dysfunction at a higher rate than other children, their parents are incarcerated at higher rates.'

'The children themselves have a higher rate of behavioral disorders and are at higher risk of substance use disorders themselves,' she added.

During the same time period, nearly 25 percent said they had struggled with a major depressive episode or another form of mental illness.

Clemans-Cope said that some parents struggling with addiction may be afraid of losing their children if they seek help – but that treatment is critical for the well-being of the family in the long run.

'A lot of parents don't know that treatment can be really effective and that may be what's holding them back from bringing it up with their primary care provider.'

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A separate analysis by the U.S. Census found that grandparents in America are increasingly having to step up and raise their grandchildren because their own kids are in the grip of opioid addiction.

Researchers found a correlation between the states with the higher rates of opioid prescription and those with high rates of grandparents caring for the next generation – revealing a new layer to the complex crisis that was declared a national emergency in 2017.

The dual situations are concentrated in the South: Mississippi had the highest rate of grandparents as primary caregivers (2.9 percent), followed by Arkansas (2.2 percent), Louisiana (2.2 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent) and Kentucky (2.1 percent).

This graph illustrates the share of all Americans who believe the government spends too little on drug rehabilitation. Source: General Social Survey

Meanwhile, Alabama, had the highest prescribing rate, at 121 per 100 residents, followed by Arkansas (114.6), Tennessee (107.5), Mississippi (105.6) and Louisiana (98.1).

More than 115 Americans die each day of opioid overdoses, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) believe the government spends too little on drug rehabilitation – an attitude increasingly embraced by white Americans as addiction becomes viewed more as a disease and less as a personal failing that primarily affects minorities, according to the General Social Survey.

It represents a 50 percent increase since 2012 when just 42 percent of Americans felt that way, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of the GSS - a comprehensive poll that has tracked American attitudes and beliefs since 1972.

The share of all Americans who would like to see more spending on rehabilitation is now approaching the peak of 1990 – during the height of the crack epidemic – when 65 percent said the government spent too little on rehabilitation.